Gas Leak In Lawrence Forces More Than 100 People Out Of Nearby Buildings
LAWRENCE (CBS) -- More than 100 people had to evacuate three buildings in Lawrence on Sunday morning after a contractor doing excavation work hit a gas pipe on Manchester Street.
"A subcontractor who was doing excavation work in the rear of 85 Manchester Street struck and severed a high-pressure gas line. Took a while for Eversource to isolate the valve and then shut it off," said Lawrence Deputy Fire Chief Jack Meaney.
The incident forced people inside flea and fruit markets onto the street.
"This is a supermarket. Very well visited by the Latino community," said a Lawrence resident who had to evacuate one of the buildings on Sunday. "It was a gas leak, and people smell it all the way to a couple of hundred feet from here."
It is still unclear what caused the subcontractor to hit the gas line. But while nobody was injured, it caused a scare. Natural gas mishaps strike a scary chord there because it was three years ago that a series of gas explosions ripped through many homes in the Merrimack Valley and killed a teenager.
"I mean, being in Lawrence, a gas leak, what happened three years ago, it's all scary," said the resident. "We don't want that to happen again."
The Lawrence Fire Department & Police Department, along with National Grid, were on scene most of the day. The broken pipe will be repaired on Monday.